San Francisco News Blog

San Francisco's new Public Enemies, Nos. 1 and 2

​The city's broke. To borrow Gavin Newsom's favorite phrase, "I get it." But we've still entered into something of a surreal realm when the city's Department of Public Works puts forth a plan to levy fees on chewing gum and other products in order to fund such rudimentary endeavors as cleaning the damn streets.

This comes on the heels of last  year's dubious 20-cent fee on cigarettes for ostensibly the same reason. And while we don't claim to be Carnac the Magnificent, it warrants mentioning that SF Weekly pointed out that Newsom's logic in dinging cigarette smokers could easily be rolled out to target gum-chewers, candy bar-eaters, or any other group purchasing any product under the sun. There really is no end in sight. As we wrote at the time:

...If Newsom's logic were practiced fairly and across the board, then virtually any product could be hit with this kind of fee to justify its later removal. How about chewing gum, the product that often comes out No. 1 on city litter surveys? A new surcharge would bring new meaning to the term "Double your pleasure." How about cans and bottles of juice and soda? You bet. That goes doubly for cans and bottles of beer and booze -- not only are the receptacles left around the city, we're stuck power-washing the resultant urine out of vast swaths of San Francisco. ...  

This makes me wish San Francisco elected its coroner.

1 and 2. Which two of these charming utterances didn't Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger say about other states?

A. Florida is known only for "old people."
B. "What do I think about New Jersey? I try not to."
C. "There's no one screaming, like, 'I can't wait to get to Iowa.' That I can guarantee you."
D. "Missouri is the 'Show Me State'? Show me a reason to go."

3. What conservative blowhard hosted Mayor Gavin Newsom on his TV show this week?

A. Glen Beck
B. Sean Hannity
C. Bill O'Reilly
D. Rush Limbaugh

4. A poll released this week revealed San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is the front-runner in the race for Attorney General -- until the pollster read a litany of inflammatory statements about Harris to the potential voter and asked his or her opinion. Which of these things didn't the pollster say about Harris?

A. Harris "refused the death penalty for an illegal immigrant gang member who murdered an entire family"
B. Harris "created a program that trains illegal immigrants for jobs in the U.S."
C. Harris "is strongly opposed by most prosecutors and police officers in the state, and especially by San Francisco's own police officers association"
D. All of these

Jim Herd

Well, happy Valentine's Day!

​While you'd think it was a safe bet this would be more necessary on Super Bowl Sunday, a state-funded DUI checkpoint will instead be established in San Francisco on the eve of Valentine's Day.

The checkpoint -- at a yet-to-be-disclosed location -- will run from 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13 night until Valentine's Day itself at 1 a.m. And, San Francisco pedestrians -- and sober drivers -- take heart this Super Bowl Sunday. The San Francisco Police Department plans "saturation patrols" with extra motorcycle cops to nab inebriated motorists (according to the state Office of Traffic Safety, on Super Bowl Sunday in 2009, 11 motorists died in California -- three times the average. The 133 injured in DUI-related accidents was double the norm. As Henny Youngman used to say, "take your BART, please.").

Finally, if you're wondering how many drivers have been slapped with DUIs in San Francisco -- or any other California county -- visit here to peruse a strangely engrossing Web site.

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WPS

She's the best and she's coming here...

​The San Francisco-based Women's Professional Soccer league had a dispersal draft Thursday. Successful leagues don't have dispersal drafts -- that's what happens when one of your teams folds. Successful leagues don't have teams fold -- in Los Angeles, no less.

For Bay Area fans, however, there is a pony buried beneath this mound of horse manure. Our local squad, F.C. Gold Pride, managed to land the consensus best player in the world -- Marta.

At this point, many readers are probably thinking "Marta Who?" This can be answered in two ways. First, Brazilian sporting stars often go by just the one name. And, second -- it's a fair point. Will the presence of even one of the best women's players to ever trot out onto the pitch be enough to draw fans to watch a franchise that, in its inaugural season, was forced to cut ticket prices and reduce the size of its stadium?

On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger provided a classic example of trying to boost your own low self-esteem by dragging others down with you. Everyone knows California is the laughingstock of the country right now. But at a conference in Silicon Valley, Schwarzenegger insulted other states in order to tout how California is still a destination spot. The governor said Florida is only known for "old people." Other states are only known for "potatoes" or "oil." As for Iowa: "There's no one screaming, like, 'I can't wait to get to Iowa.' That I can guarantee you. They want to come here to California."

Well, Iowa Governor Chet Culver, a former college football player, is apparently ready for a beefy governor deathmatch. Culver told a reporter in Davenport, Iowa, that "I doubt that he'll ever make the mistake of repeating something like that again," which would sound downright threatening if the friendly guv wasn't chuckling the whole time. The reporter than noted, "You know he's a big guy, but I think we got a governor who could take him. What do you think?" Culver agreed: "We can take him."

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Gascon, who comes to us from the southwestern town of Mesa, Ariz, knows all about scapegoating; he's famous for confronting Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio when that miserable bigot was seeking headlines by rounding up Mexicans on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Gascon is no Sheriff Joe -- but we've noted how the chief has begun making his own scapegoating bones in San Francisco by diverting officers to Haight Ashbury to harass homeless people with jaywalking and dog license citations. And last week he was quoted as suggesting he'd crack down on Critical Mass, the monthly mid-town bike ride. He was even cited as saying a ballot measure banning Critical Mass would pass with flying colors. (Meanwhile, on the anti-unbathed-poor-person front, he's pushing a law that would curb people's ability to sit on the sidewalk.)

Passing laws aimed at prohibiting the movement and congregation of people who annoy you has a storied history in America, one populated by political players attuned to a surly public mood.

Yeah, we realize that the Facebook doppelganger-week phenomenon is staler than an adult-diaper on a runaway Alzheimer's patient. (Technically the week ended last Friday). But it's a slow news day and my editor demanded that I do this.

​Not just look-alikes, Gavin and Christian Bale both exude white privilege!

Some people seem to think Dennis is a menace...

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Well, that's news to Adachi. San Francisco's top defense attorney says he knew nothing about the letter that purports to represent his office and more than 30 immigrants rights organizations circulated last week, alleging that Herrera's advice to the city on the legality of reporting undocumented juveniles to immigration officials was against the ACS's ideals.

"We'd never sign something like that," Adachi told SF Weekly. "I think people should be free to protest in any way they see fit, but for a group of individuals to list organizations that weren't contacted previously was just wrong."